PC Power &amp; Cooling Turbo-Cool 860W PSU Review

Introduction and Features

The new Turbo-Cool 860 is the latest addition to PC Power & Cooling’s Turbo-Cool series of high performance PC power supplies. It can deliver up to 860W of clean, reliable power for mission critical workstations and high-end gaming systems. The new Turbo-Cool 860 features a compact chassis and allows fine adjustment of the DC output voltages on the three primary rails. And it comes with four PCI-E connectors, is NVIDIA SLI certified, and is backed by PC Power & Cooling’s 7-year warranty.

PC Power & Cooling has been in the business of building high-performance PC switching power supplies since 1986 and they have earned one of the best reputations in the industry for performance and reliability. Today PC Power & Cooling offers several lines of high-quality power supplies ranging in capacity from 300W all the way up to 1200W. The Turbo-Cool units are specifically designed for high-end applications where clean power and reliability are the top priorities while the Silencer series puts more emphasis on quiet operation and a lower price point.

Turbo-Cool 860W PSU Key Features:

• 860W continuous power output (930W peak) at 50°C

• Compact chassis (only 150mm deep)

• Powerful single +12V rail (up to 64A/70A peak)

• Rock solid, super clean DC outputs

• Tight voltage regulation (+VDC @ 1.5%)

• User adjustable DC voltages (+3.3V, +5V and +12V)

• Four PCI-E and 15 peripheral drive connectors

• 24-pin, 8-pin, and 4-pin motherboard connectors

• High efficiency operation (84% typical)

• Heavy duty components (caps, inductors, heat sinks, etc.)

• Active PFC with Universal AC line input

• Automatic fan speed control circuit (single 80mm fan)

• High reliability (200,000 Hr. MTBF)

• NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 Ultra)

• 7-Year warranty, Unbeatable support

PC Power & Cooling designed the Turbo-Cool series for professionals that require the very best, long-lasting industrial-grade components for their mission critical machines. The target audience for the 860 now includes high-end gamers along with professional, industrial grade users.

Here is what PC Power & Cooling has to say about the new Turbo-Cool 860:

“Built for absolute stability and reliability, the Turbo-Cool 860 features adjustable rails, ultra-high efficiency, and a lifespan at least twice the industry standard. NVIDIA® SLI certified to the highest level, the heavy-duty Turbo-Cool 860 is the ultimate power solution for today’s mission-critical and high-end gaming systems.”

The Turbo-Cool 860 ships in a glossy printed retail box instead of PC Power & Cooling’s traditional plain cardboard box (OCZ marketing at work :) The 860 comes bundled with a power cord, mounting screws, Users Guide and a certified test report.

Establishing an accurate load is critical to testing and evaluating a PC power supply. PCPerspective’s power supply test bench can place a precise 2,000 watt DC load on the PSU under test. Each power supply is tested under controlled, real-world conditions up to its maximum rated load (at 40ºC), using both 115 VAC and 240 VAC line voltage. Our current suite of tests includes:

• DC Load Regulation

• DC Line Regulation

• DC Cross-load (unbalanced load)

• AC Ripple and Noise

• Power Factor

• Efficiency

• Differential Temperature

• Noise

The Turbo-Cool 860W power supply was evaluated on both features and performance. A full range of equipment was used to test the power supply under controlled load conditions.